Osceola's Beach Signs With North Florida

Osceola sports - BASEBALL

KISSIMMEE -- Center fielder Robbie Beach, a cornerstone of an Osceola High School offense that struggled offensively in 2000, is taking his baseball glove to North Florida Community College.

Beach, 18, follows teammate Luis Alicea to North Florida. A right-handed pitcher, Alicea was 7-4 with a 1.04 earned-run average and 107 strikeouts over 722/3 innings. He committed last week to suit up for the Sentinels.

Beach and Alicea, each a member of The Osceola Sentinel's All-County roster, were key components on a squad that shook off a late-season 10-game losing streak to win a Class 5A district championship.

"Our win/loss record didn't look good, but it wasn't like we were getting killed,'' Beach said. "We could hold teams on defense, but not forever. The offense never came around."

North Florida is the next step in Beach's goal to play at the next level.

"I'd like to play center field, but that hasn't been decided yet," Beach said. "The only thing I've heard is that the four to five outfielders up there are going to be happy with the amount of playing time they get."

Beach, who fancies a career in sports medicine or criminal justice, has an eye on transferring to a Division 1 program after two years at North Florida. He hasn't ruled out following in his father's shoes and returning to school as a coach.

North Florida Coach Steve Givens, with only one returning outfielder on the roster, was quick to extend Beach a scholarship after watching the Kowboys' offensive fireplug try out in Madison. The Sentinels are in need of offense after finishing 26-20, fourth in the six-school Panhandle Conference.

A .379 career hitter over two varsity seasons, Beach batted .356 this season with eight doubles, a home run, four RBIs and 13 stolen bases. That was down from 1999, when he batted .402 with four doubles, four home runs, 24 RBIs and a school record 32 stolen bases.

A natural leadoff hitter, this spring Beach batted third in Coach Scott Birchler's lineup. He was the only Kowboy who batted higher than .300. And, as a result, he saw very few quality pitches to hit.

"I saw a lot of outside pitches, off-speed pitches...'' he said. Still, Beach led the club in on-base percentage (.458).

Said Birchler: "We needed Robbie's bat in the No. 3 hole, but his RBI production wasn't very high because not very many batting in front of him got on base. Robbie worked hard because he wanted to succeed. Eager to win, he hated to lose. Robbie found a way to get the team fired up, but as Robbie went, so went the team. That was our `trickle-down' effect. When Robbie was hitting, everybody hit. When he didn't, nobody did."

The son of Rob Beach, Osceola's varsity coach from 1989-92, Robbie was hanging around the Kowboys' dugout for practices and games by age 5.

"All the players used to pick on Robbie," said the teenager's father.

Robbie Beach called baseball diamonds a second home, but he was equally comfortable on a football field. Beach, a wide receiver/quarterback, was a member of the Kowboys' 1998 Class 5A state championship team and the 1999 Regional runner-up squad. Osceola's record over those two seasons was 26-3.

"I used to play behind the stands during games," he said.

A less memorable moment was getting stuck in a tree and needing one of his dad's players to leave the dugout to help get him down.

Birchler, who played third base for Osceola from 1986-89, was one of Beach's early role models.

"He wore jersey No. 3, which is why I asked to wear the same number," Beach said.

A catcher in Little League, Beach said he converted to an infielder and later moved to the outfield because "that was the quickest way to break into the lineup."

Beach, who runs 40 yards in 4.5 seconds and 60 yards in 6.7 seconds, can use that speed to get to balls hit into the gap.